


A Merry Foxmas

by byjosten



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, M/M, The Foxes spend Christmas together, Twinyards in Christmas jumpers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 20:54:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21945070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byjosten/pseuds/byjosten
Summary: Neil spends his first Christmas with the Foxes and his boyfriend. (Featuring matching Twinyard jumpers, Neil's dumb Christmas jumper, and a singing Nicky)
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	A Merry Foxmas

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I hate Christmas so writing this was weird but soothing!! It's just fluffy Foxes spending the holidays together (and forgetting the Evermore Christmas incident).

“ _ It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees. _ ”

Neil’s jaw clenched as he listened to Nicky wailing in the kitchen. The smell of cookies wafted through the dorm room whilst he sat in Andrew’s room, window open, cigarette between his fingers. The smoke combated the smell of baking but the mixed scents made him worse. He snubbed the cigarette out and sighed.

“ _ Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on _ .”

“I wish I had a river I could throw you in,” Neil heard Aaron yell. “Shut up, Nicky.  _ Please _ .”

“Aaron, if you’re going to be a Grinch then you can join Neil in Andrew’s bedroom.”

There was silence for a beat as Neil waited for footsteps to approach. None came, and Nicky’s singing started up. “ _ I MADE MY BABY CRYYYYY. _ ”

“You’re making  _ us  _ cry,” Aaron shouted. “God, Nicky.”

“If you won’t leave and stop dampening my Christmas spirit then you can at least help me.”

“If you stop ruining Joni Mitchell I will.”

“Fine! Just--”

And Neil lost the rest because the door closed shut behind someone. He half turned, only needing to see in his peripheral who entered the room before knowing. He hadn’t spent his life looking out the corner of his eye to not recognise people by colours and half-second glances.

“I’m surprised you haven’t tied Nicky up and taped his mouth shut by now,” Neil said.

Andrew snorted. “Have you ever seen Nicky throw a petty revenge tantrum? I’m not risking it.”

“Knives versus an adult throwing a tantrum,” Neil murmured as Andrew’s arms came to wrap around his shoulders. He was warm at Neil’s back, the familiar smell of smoke surrounding him. He leaned back into his boyfriend, eyes closing. “I wonder who would win.”

Andrew dragged a vertical finger over Neil’s throat before ducking down to kiss him quickly. “Are you going to hide in here all afternoon?”

“That’s the plan. Want to join me? Nicky’s wailing would cover any other sounds.”

“His wailing would ruin any sort of mood, Neil.”

As if on cue, Nicky’s voice broke on a high note as he carried it out for too long and too much out of his vocal range. Andrew huffed a laugh into Neil’s shoulder. “So you hide in here, doing what? It’s winter, the window can’t stay open for hours.”

“Says the boy who chain smokes,” Neil pointed out.

“I don’t let the cold into a warm dorm room when I smoke.”

It was only when Neil turned around that he burst out laughing when he saw what Andrew wore. He clapped a hand over his mouth at Andrew’s glare. “What the hell are you wearing?”

Andrew tugged on the Christmas jumper he wore. “I was raised for the last several Christmases by Nicky. We learnt to follow his traditions because that was better than the alternative.” Neil knew: Nicky’s traditions, as bothersome as they were when he just wanted peace, meant company. It meant Christmas spirit and happiness. It meant the day would be brighter than what they had already been used to.

It meant someone was there and someone cared about how Andrew and Aaron felt at the “most wonderful time of the year”. And that was more than Neil could argue--or laugh at.

“Does he have one for me?”

Andrew shook his head, mouth twitching in a small smile. He reached behind him to snag something off the bed. “ _ I  _ have one for you.”

He let the jumper unfold as he held it up. Neil took it in, one brow raised. The monstrosity was green with a Christmas tree on. Splodges of colours were knitted to look like tinsel and baubles. “Oh, that’s terrible.”

“It gets better,” Andrew mumbled. He pressed the star of the tree and it lit up.

Neil stared. “Oh, wow.”

Andrew peeked his head over the top of the jumper, trying not to laugh. “Come on. If I have to wear one then so do you.”

“Yours is black! And only says...  _ Have a merry Twinmas! _ ? Oh, Andrew, tell me you don’t have matching jumpers with Aaron.” Nicky had bought the twins the matching jumpers four years before, and had been extremely happy to know he didn’t have to buy them new ones each year. Andrew held a hand up, pressed something on the inside of his elbow, and suddenly a song  _ came from the jumper _ . It was ‘Oh, Christmas Tree’, and Andrew only stared at Neil as it played.

“Shut up; it was his way of mending the “broken bond” we apparently had.” Andrew waved a hand. “Whatever that means.”

“Andrew.”

“Neil, put your Christmas jumper on, or I won’t stop playing this over and over during the night. You can kiss goodnight to any sleep unless you dress up with me.”

“I didn’t peg you as the type to coax Christmas cheer into others.”

Andrew shrugged. “It’s… It’s a time where I get to be grateful that another family wanted me after my first one didn’t. It’s a time where I get to thank Nicky for all he’s done for me when I pretend to be an ungrateful asshole all the other days of the year.”

“You could just be grateful anyway,” Neil suggested. Andrew grinned, the edge of it wicked.

“Where would the fun in that be? It would take the meaning out of Christmas.”

Neil rolled his eyes and snatched the jumper, quickly yanking it over his head. There were three-hundred-sixty-five days in a year and Neil hated Christmas day the most. It was a day of festivity, to remember the good times, to spend time with family. But Neil had always wanted to scream at carollers-- _ what  _ good time?  _ What  _ family? All he remembered from Christmas was someone walking away, chaos, arguments, sparse dinners that looked nothing like the ones he saw on TV. He couldn’t remember one good time, or a reason why he should be happy to celebrate Christmas.

Fingers grasped his chin to tilt his head up. Andrew looked at him.

Oh. That family.

The Foxes.

Andrew.

Neil broke into a smile as Andrew kissed him. “Merry Christmas, Neil.” And he couldn’t remember the last time anyone had ever told him that with so much love in their voice. Neil stood up as they kissed, his fingers finding the place on Andrew’s elbow, pressed the button, and laughed when his jumper started singing. In turn, Andrew pressed the button on his, and he lit up. They laughed, heads bent together, wondering how they could find happiness in each other to battle years of bad memories of Christmas.

“Hey! Get in here! Andrew, I did not send you in with Neil’s jumper so you two could make out.”

Andrew grinned as he opened the door. “Actually, I was sucking his d--” Neil bumped into his shoulder to throw him off-guard and stop him ending the false claim.

“Let me see you!” Nicky cried. In the kitchen, the smell of gingerbread and cookies were stronger--the smell of Christmas Neil had always been promised in TV, adverts, books, others that had better experiences of the festive holiday. It was nothing like he knew before. This was his second Christmas at Palmetto, but only his first experience of it with the Foxes.

The first year he had taken off at midnight and not come back until two on the morning of Boxing Day. He had turned off his phone, taken up in a motel, and slept the day away as best as he could. Andrew had nearly taken his head off for it but Neil couldn’t vocalise just how much he couldn’t bear to celebrate.

This year he had been lured with the promise of a warm body next to his in bed, kisses on his shoulders, and love surrounding him in every direction.

As he lined up next to Andrew, their jumpers singing or lighting up, Aaron on Andrew’s other side, Nicky’s eyes welled up as he clasped his hands together. He wore his own jumper: red, with a Rudolph face on, and a smile that triumphed Neil’s light-up jumper. “Oh! Look at you all! Oh, this will be a Christmas to remember.”

Neil thought: maybe it would be.

Andrew slid an arm around his waist.

“So what’s next on the Hemmick Holiday Agenda?” Neil asked.

On the kitchen counter, two trays of gingerbread men, and two trays of hot cookies, were cooling. Beside them were piping bags waiting for different colours of icing, which Aaron went back to whisking, and Neil knew what was coming.

They were going to decorate gingerbread men.

Slowly, like ice melting, Neil warmed to the festivity. He caught himself grumbling often, and Andrew dabbed his cheek with icing sugar when Neil stared at the brightly-lit Christmas tree with something like pain and longing in his eyes. But how could he break a ninteen-year grudge with a holiday with only the beginning of a changed celebration?

As he carefully lowered his hands over the gingerbread man and stared down the cookie, Andrew laughed. “It’s a cookie, Neil, not an Exy goal.”

“Shut up,” he muttered. “I want to do this properly.” He was meticulous. This had to be done properly, well. What he wouldn’t voice to even Andrew was that this was the first Christmas activity he had ever done. He couldn’t bear to mess it up. He crouched and watched as the icing framed the gingerbread man perfectly, the icing only smudging when Neil lifted the piping bag. Grinning at Andrew, Neil gestured. “See?”

“Do mine,” Aaron said, shoving his cookie at Neil, but Nicky batted his hands away.

“Everyone does their own! Look, my pair are Eric and me. Do you think Neil could capture Eric’s blue eyes as well? No. We all do our own.”

Aaron peered at Nicky’s cookie. “Yes, I can really see the twinkle in your boyfriend’s eye through icing sugar.”

Nicky batted him away. Christmas music played in the background, secondary to the quiet laughter Neil heard from Andrew as he iced haphazard lines over his cookie. It looked nothing like Andrew--or Neil, for that matter. It just looked like he wanted the most random colours to decorate.

“It’s abstract,” Andrew said. “As long as I love them.”

“Them?” Aaron echoed.

Andrew’s eyes narrowed. “I said what I said.”

“As soon as the others get here we can start presents!” Nicky cheered, licking icing off his finger. Fingers found Neil’s over the counter, beckoning, curling around his own. He glanced at Andrew.

“Come with me.”

Neil frowned. “But we’re decorating.”

“I want to give you your present alone.”

Neil rolled his eyes. “I’m not unwrapping you, Andrew.”

Andrew clicked his tongue at him, shaking his head. “Christ, Neil, not that. Just--come.”

So he followed the other boy back into their bedroom and leaned against the wall. Andrew rooted in the bottom drawer of his desk until he came up holding a small box. For a second, the box looked  _ too much _ , and Neil’s breath caught in his throat. But he trusted Andrew to not have made such a big decision without talking it through first.  _ Yes or no _ \--it had always been their foundation. He forced himself to breathe, to listen.

But Andrew didn’t say anything. He just offered the box until Neil remembered how to function enough to take it. He lifted the lid, and his chest caved.

“It’s… Yeah. You carry that key around with no keyring. You’ll lose it otherwise.” Andrew wouldn’t meet his gaze but Neil didn’t care. He stared down at the key charm, tracing it carefully with a fingertip. It was a heart-shaped charm, with the words  _ You gave me a key and called it home _ engraved on it. A surprised laughter bubbled out of him. Neil had never been sure he  _ could  _ laugh on any day associated with Christmas but there it was. Andrew’s head snapped up to look at him. But the present was so  _ them  _ and nobody else would understand. He understood the privacy needed--why this was a shared personal moment.

It was true--the charm’s claim was true. Neil hadn’t thought he could call any place his home but Andrew and the Foxes had proved him wrong. So, so wrong. He hadn’t thought he would have a Christmas surrounded by cheer and smiles and love yet there he was.

“Andrew…”

He wasn’t sure what hurt more: the charm, Andrew’s expression, or the thought of Andrew shopping for it. Perhaps he had enlisted Renee’s help. Perhaps he had done it alone, cursing at a laptop when he couldn’t find the correct button for the engraving option. Perhaps he had stayed awake for hours at night finding this. Neil reached out and snagged Andrew’s jumper between his fingers to tug him closer.

“Laugh again and I’m taking it back,” Andrew warned, their faces inches apart.

Neil’s fingers closed around the charm. “Try taking it from me.” He hesitated a second until Andrew kissed him, slowly, deeply, his fingers in Neil’s hair. Closing his eyes, Neil let it all drift away for a beautiful second. There was only the cold bite of the charm in his hand and the feel of Andrew’s lips on his.

_ Home. Home. Home. _

Boys like Neil weren’t supposed to know that word but Andrew let him. Andrew had built a world around Neil Josten and let him live in it, let him be surrounded by goodness. They kissed until a sound from the kitchen broke them apart, Andrew looking alarmed.

“Aaron, that was a knife!” Nicky screamed.

“I know,” came Aaron’s raised reply. Andrew released Neil from his grasp and ran from the room, Neil pocketing his gift and running after him. Sure enough, Nicky stood clutching a knife whilst Aaron stood threateningly at the other end of the kitchen.

“What happened?” Neil asked.

Aaron’s eyes burned into Nicky. “Tell them.”

Nicky lifted his gaze to Andrew and Neil. “He said my gingerbread man looked like shit. I told him he  _ was  _ shit, and he threw the knife.”

“Huh,” Neil said. “I thought that was Andrew’s job.”

“Aaron, apologise,” Andrew ordered. “This is Neil’s first Christmas. I want him to remember it for good reasons, not that we fought each other-- _ again _ .”

“Rich coming from you,” Aaron muttered under his breath.

“Aaron.” Andrew’s voice was sharp, warning. The Foxes believed Andrew was soulless, without morals, but all Neil saw was a boy who wanted his boyfriend to have a memorable Christmas with his family. But the look in Nicky’s eyes and the dumb reason a knife had been thrown only made him want to laugh again. It seemed ridiculous, incredulous, that he got to have this. That a knife had been thrown over a  _ gingerbread man  _ rather than actual anger and lethal intent. Aaron would never hurt his cousin so Neil trusted him but he still watched as Aaron offered Nicky a hand. He only looked at the offered hand, sniffed, before reaching up to cram Aaron’s cookie into his own mouth.

“Penance,” he said matter-of-factly around it. Aaron only rolled his eyes and slid the knife back into the drawer. Andrew cast another examining look over his family before being satisfied with the lowered tension.

“Before Aaron threw the knife,” Nicky said. “I was about to announce that the others are on their way.”

“Oh no,” Aaron muttered.

“Why  _ oh no _ ?” Neil asked, confused.

But Andrew’s eyes twinkled as he folded his arms. Neil almost missed the bare biceps and covered forearms, all that muscle bunching when he stood like that, covered by the woolen Christmas jumper. “It’s because of the next item on the Hemmick Holiday Agenda.”

“You named my Christmas list?” Nicky asked, mouth falling open in delight.

“Neil did,” Andrew said.

“Yeah, yeah. Tell me what it is,” Neil urged.

Before Nicky could answer, Andrew cut in. It was enthusiasm in his eyes, excitement that highered his voice. “When they arrive, Nicky plays Rocking Around the Christmas Tree, and we all walk around the tree. Whenever the music stops, we all pick up a present in front of us--unnamed, unmarked--and open it. It’s like musical chairs but… Musical Christmas presents.” His mouth quirked, a half-smile forming, like he loved the activity. Neil glanced and sure enough there were four presents already there. He had no doubt now that the other Foxes would bring their own gifts.

“Oh,” he said. “That sounds… Creative.”

“It gets fun,” Nicky said. “Because the knack is for everyone to buy something to wrap that embodies themselves. So you get Dan opening a keychain of a knife, or Renee opening a packet of cracker dust.” He shot Aaron a dark look. The other twin just shrugged, flashing a grin. “We have to guess who bought the gift. Then we get to keep them.”

“So what is it about?” Neil asked.

“Having fun?” Nicky said, frowning.

“But the point of it… What is it?”

Andrew sighed, fingers massaging into Neil’s tight shoulders. “There is no point. It’s just fun and silly and we enjoy ourselves, Josten. We end up laughing for once instead of fighting. We hold presents instead of racquets, and we realise just how much we know about each other rather than highlight our differences and how that divides us all the time.”

Neil wondered how Andrew voiced that concept, that he cared enough to recognise how the team dynamic looked. His brows rose as he glanced at the presents. Prompted by Nicky, and dragged out by Matt, he had bought his own signature gift for anyone to find. An orange hat with fox ears sewn into the top. It would be everyone’s guess of who bought it but he wondered who would open it. He couldn’t help glancing at Andrew’s blonde hair, imagining fox ears on his head and his blonde hair sticking out from under the orange wool.

He smiled to himself, until a knock on the door broke the group apart. Nicky cheered whilst Aaron stood at Andrew’s side. Neil marvelled once more at the matching jumpers, shaking his head that Nicky had managed to do that with them, and reached out to play the tune on Andrew’s jumper just as the door swung open.

Neil pressed his own jumper, and heard the cries of  _ Merry Christmas! _

The Foxes were here, and Neil Josten was going to have the best Christmas ever.


End file.
